The invention relates to the field of disposable products, and, more particularly, to the field of disposable undergarments.
Over the years, consumers have shifted demand from cloth diapers to disposable diapers for infants and toddlers. This demand has increased and developed the disposable diaper industry into a major industry. As this industry developed, consumers preferred and often demanded improvements in disposable products which include better core absorbency, products which are easier to fasten, detach, and reattach side peripheries of the waistbands, various sizes of products for various weights and sizes of infants and toddlers, and better control of leakage from around the legs and waistbands when the diaper is positioned on an infant or toddler.
This development of the disposable diaper industry, however, has increased demand for faster and more efficient disposable undergarment production. This demand is further complicated by the development of disposable infant and toddler briefs, which have a different product configuration and have different product performance requirements than disposable diapers. Also, because of the relative success of the disposable diapers and the high volume of disposable diaper products produced in manufacturing, the market for toddler briefs has generally been a much smaller subset of the infant and toddler disposable diaper market. The demand for toddler briefs in general is substantially less than the disposable diapers. Accordingly, these specially configured briefs are not normally produced on the same production line as the disposable diaper production line. Because the market demand for these briefs is less, product manufacturers are less inclined to invest in additional machinery for producing these products. The product manufacturer, however, is also pushed by retailers and consumers to provide a full-line of disposable products for infants and toddlers.
Additionally, as the nursing home care and elderly care industry has grown over the years, the elderly often have needed more and more assistance from nursing home or elderly care personnel, including urination and bowel movement assistance. Urination and bowel movement problems have also arisen among various aged adults such as loss of bladder control through childbirth or medical reasons. Therefore, because manufacturers of disposable undergarments can be limited in the foot-print or square footage of floor space available for production, especially for adult, toddler, and infant specialty undergarments such as briefs, and because labor costs can be quite expensive, demand continues to increase for systems which increase production speed of disposable undergarments in a relatively small amount of space.
In view of the foregoing background, the present invention advantageously provides a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method which produces a plurality of undergarments by orienting a portion of the undergarment, such as the core, the waistband, the leg gathers, the backsheets, or the respective portions thereof, from a first orientation position along a predetermined direction of travel to a different second orientation position along the same predetermined direction of travel. The present invention also advantageously provides a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method of producing a plurality of disposable undergarments which increases the production speed and reduces the square footage of floor or manufacturing space needed for producing the disposable undergarments to thereby increase the value and productivity of a production line.
The present invention additionally advantageously provides a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method for producing disposable undergarments more efficiently. The present invention further advantageously provides a disposable undergarment forming apparatus and method having the flexibility to produce both infant or toddler undergarments and adult undergarments and produce different undergarment configurations efficiently with only minor production line changes. The present invention still further provides an apparatus and method for orienting a portion of disposable undergarment, such as the core, the waistband, a leg gather, or respective portions thereof, from a first orientation position along a predetermined direction of travel to a different second orientation position along the same predetermined direction of travel.
More particularly, the apparatus preferably includes lifting means for lifting a portion of a disposable undergarment when in a first orientation position during travel along a predetermined path and orienting means connected to the lifting means for orienting the portion of the disposable undergarment in a second orientation position along the predetermined path of travel. The orienting means preferably includes driving means for driving the lifting means along the predetermined path of travel and orientation changing means associated with the driving means for changing the orientation of the lifted portion of the disposable undergarment to the second orientation position when driving the lifting means in the predetermined path of travel. The orientation changing means, for example, preferably includes means for driving portions of said lifting means along first and second driving paths. The second driving path is preferably positioned to generally overlie the first driving path and to direct a second portion of the lifting means along a different path of travel than a first portion traveling along the first driving path.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided for orienting a plurality of cores of a web of a plurality of disposable undergarments. The apparatus preferably includes lifting means for lifting each of a plurality of cores for forming a web of disposable undergarments when in a first orientation position during travel along a predetermined path and core orienting means connected to the lifting means for orienting each of the plurality of cores in a second orientation position along the predetermined path of travel. The core orienting means preferably includes driving means for driving the lifting means along the predetermined path of travel and orientation changing means associated with the driving means for changing the orientation of each of the lifted cores to the second orientation position when driving the lifting means along the predetermined path of travel. The orientation changing means, for example, preferably includes means for driving portions of the lifting means along first and second driving paths. The second driving path is preferably positioned to generally overlie the first driving path and to direct a second portion of the lifting means along a different path of travel than a first portion traveling along the first driving path.
The present invention also advantageously provides methods for orienting a portion of a disposable undergarment such as a core, a waistband, a leg gather, a backsheet, or respective portions thereof. A method preferably includes lifting a portion of a disposable undergarment by a lifter when in a first orientation position during travel along a predetermined path and orienting the portion of the disposable undergarment in a second orientation position along the predetermined path of travel by driving the lifter along the predetermined path of travel and changing the orientation of the lifted portion of the disposable undergarment to the second orientation position when driving the lifter along the predetermined path of travel.
Because the core of a disposable undergarment can require extensive forming, preparing, and handling operations, e.g., due to the absorbency or super-absorbency nature of the core of a disposable undergarment, the apparatus and method of the present invention can advantageously be and is preferably used or orienting a core of a disposable undergarment. Accordingly, another method of the present invention preferably includes lifting a core of a disposable undergarment by a core lifter when in a first orientation position during travel along a predetermined path and orienting the core in a second orientation position along the predetermined path of travel by driving the core lifter along the predetermined path of travel and changing the orientation of the lifted core to the second orientation position when driving the core lifter along the predetermined path of travel.
Further, because it is generally desirable to produce a large quantity, e.g., hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands, of disposable undergarments rapidly, efficiently, and in a smaller square footage of manufacturing floor space, yet another method for orienting a plurality of cores of a web of disposable undergarments is advantageously provided according to the present invention. Yet another method preferably includes transporting each of the plurality of cores along a predetermined path of travel when in a first orientation position, lifting each of the plurality of cores by one of a plurality of lifters when each of the plurality of cores are in the first orientation position during travel along a predetermined path, and orienting each of the plurality of cores in a second orientation position along the predetermined path of travel by driving the lifter along the predetermined path of travel and changing the orientation of each of the lifted cores to the second orientation position when driving each of the plurality of lifters along the predetermining path of travel.